Winter Works Project

[RossKean]

I have well over 160,000 miles on my 2007 FJR at this point. It has been pretty good to me over the years and I sincerely hope to have it well past the 200,000 mile mark; especially since I can't afford a new one right now. I have never had a major problem or any minor ones that I couldn't fix with the FSM and the superb advice from many knowledgeable forum members. Other than a gear selector switch back in the earlier days, I can't remember replacing anything that wasn't what I would consider to be a normal wear item. I did replace front fork bushings/seals (twice) and front wheel bearings at 140,000 miles or so. Hell, I'm still running the original battery but I have purchased a replacement - just not installed yet. Bike still seems to make good power and doesn't use a measureable amount of oil between changes. I have never done a compression or leakdown test and I'm not sure I want to know the results. Would it be a useful bit of information to assess the potential remaining lifetime of the motor or is it just something to worry about (if results aren't wonderful)?

In the interest of keeping this bike on the road as long as possible, I have decided to invest more time on it this winter than I have ever done in the past. In addition, I am planning some trips over the next couple of years that will take me a long way from home and on-the-road reliability needs to be maximized. I will be doing all the usual stuff like valve check, fork oil, clean and lube everything, clutch/brake bleed etc. There are some things I have not done regularly in the past and will do this year like steering head bearing repack (did them once at 50,000 miles - and it wasn't needed) and complete swingarm service (never been done). I have purchased a lightly used shock relay arm since the bearings on mine are a little rough and I will replace the whole unit. This is one from a 2011 with < 9,000 miles and cost way less than just the replacement bearings/seals/collars for mine. Penske shock needs to be done again as well.

I have a list of 30 or so more-or-less routine items that I am going to do but I have some questions on a few other things with respect to the advisability of replacing or servicing purely as a preventative measure:

Rear wheel bearings? Should they be OK or have I just been lucky so far?
Clutch/brake master and slave cylinder seals? (all original)
Any cooling system parts? (i.e. hoses, thermostat, radiator cap) Hoping water pump and rad core will be good for the life of the bike.
Brake/clutch hoses?
Other hoses (vacuum etc.)?
Clutch disks - no issues with slippage to date but should I replace the fibre disks?
Throttle bodies have never been removed and cleaned. Should this be done? (I expect the butterfly plates would look awful!)
Fuel injectors have never been cleaned or tested. Is this needed? I could probably clean them in an ultrasonic bath but couldn't test.
Fuel Pump? (no issues noted)
Starter motor - no issues so far so leave it alone?
Fork springs? Valves or other internals besides bushings and seals? Would love a full Traxxion system but not now.

Throttle cables - has anyone ever had one wear out and break?

Throttle position sensor - I know there were some bad ones that failed early (esp. Gen I) but has anyone had one fail late in the bike's lifetime on a Gen II?

Other sensors or controls?

For the most part, hoses and rubber bits do not seem to be dry or cracked - one of the benefits of living in a cooler climate.
R/R wiring harness? - Not getting the voltage I would like to see at the battery. Still need to check charging system (stator and R/R).

Headlight relay harness? No issues so far but thinking about relieving stress on the less-than-perfect and over-taxed ignition switch contacts.

Any comments on the above or suggestions for things I may have omitted?

Thanks

 

[lele]

in my gen1 this year I did change all the cooling hoses because they look very bad after 15 years (the big one under the tank start to piss from the radiator side)

I also replace all the seals and gaskets of the circuit..

cleaning the throttle bodies is one next project..and an occasion to check the starter motor

 

[radiummadman]

can't wait for responses, this is a very goodtion, thanks

 

[Fred W]

@Ross - You know me pretty well, so you know that I am (usually) pretty frugal.

My recommendation is for you to tally up the cost of the maintenance that you are about to take on and then compare that to the cost of selling your old warhorse in its current, good running condition for whatever you can get for it, and then seeking out a lower mileage 2nd Gen FJR to replace it with. My reasoning is that you are wanting reliability on some long mileage trips in your future, and it's not just a few of the parts on that bike that have gone 160k miles. Low to mid mileage '06's and '07's are selling really cheaply these days now that Gen 3 (and 3.5) FJRs are out there in the used market in good numbers.

Could you get away with replacing a few parts and riding the '07 past 200k miles? Sure, you probably could, and I would recommend taking that path if it were not for the long trips that you mentioned. Breaking down out on the road and having to wait around in a hotel room (or for you at a campground) for parts to repair the bike would suck badly. Your best opportunity to avoid that is to leave on a lower mileage bike.

YMMV (see what I did there?

)

 

[RossKean]

...My recommendation is for you to tally up the cost of the maintenance that you are about to take on and then compare that to the cost of selling your old warhorse in its current, good running condition for whatever you can get for it, and then seeking out a lower mileage 2nd Gen FJR to replace it with...

I never really considered that. I'm thinking that if I decided to go that route, I might spend a bit more and get a Gen III although there are Gen II's out there with under 40,000 miles for as little as $5,000 (in reasonably good shape). I haven't totaled the costs of what I was thinking about doing - will depend upon how far I go with things like rear wheel bearings, clutch disks, hoses and other stuff that needs purchased parts. The vast majority of the "expense" is my time; especially if I don't do a bunch of preventative parts swapping. I'm guessing I would spend less than $1000 (probably $500, or so) on parts (and labor for the stuff like wheel bearings that I won't do myself).

Trips in the next couple of years include completion of the large North American tour that got aborted a third of the way through (summer before last) and a separate trip to Alaska. These two trips alone would be close to 30,000 miles and they don't include any of the other riding I would expect to do (another 30,000+ in two years). General reliability is needed although minor issues along the way are (almost) expected. Catastrophic failures (dead motor, transmission etc.) are impossible to predict for sure but are (statistically) more likely to happen on a high-mileage vehicle. Reliability, especially a long way from home, is vital. I don't think I would even be asking these questions if I expected that most of my travels would be within a couple of days travel from where I live.

Anyway, you've thrown a wrench into the works now and you may have cost me a bunch of money. If I go with a new(er) Sport Touring MC, it would be another FJR of whatever Generation I could afford. Other option is something like a 'Strom as a better choice for roads less-travelled but not as good for the long tours.

I guess we could discuss the "repair or replace" thing but maybe that's another topic. Right now, I think I want to get some advice on the other stuff. If costs are not huge, I will probably refurbish the bike anyway to keep, sell or give away.

 

[RossKean]

Messed up post edit. Disregard.

 

[08FJR4ME]

You can do what I did, pickup a 2015 GenIII and keep the older bike. I took the 08 to work today. One of the main reasons I bought the 2015 was for peace of mind when taking a longer trip. Granted I don't have your mileage but it is getting up there. There is a noticable difference when riding both bikes. The new one is very tight and drives like a dream.

Dave